Height of Delhi Metro platform railings raised to check suicides

New Delhi: In an effort to prevent suicide attempts at the elevated Metro stations, the Delhi Metro after a month long survey is raising the height of platform railings, an official said Thursday.

"The process of increasing the height of the elevated stations' platform railings has started after we did a month-long survey. So far, we have increased the height in three Metro stations -- Nirman Vihar, Akshardham and Laxmi Nagar," a Delhi Metro official told IANS.

In an effort to prevent suicide attempts at the elevated Metro stations, the Delhi Metro after a month long survey is raising the height of platform railings. AFP

The Delhi Metro started the survey on the elevated stations as there was a rise in the number of suicides at Metro stations.

As per Delhi Police records, seven people attempted suicide at Metro stations from January to March, and of them six people died.

"The platform railings, which are usually 3.5 metres in height, will be raised to around 5 metres. We have done with only three stations. We plan to increase the railings in 47 more elevated stations across the network," the official said.

There are 139 Metro stations (both underground and elevated) on the Delhi Metro network.

"We have decided to increase the platform railings, as in most of the suicide attempts, we have seen, people tend to jump from the edge of the elevated platform railings, which are 20 to 25 feet above the ground level," said the official.

The Delhi Metro normally makes over 2,700 trips a day, covering about 70,000 km and carrying around 1.8 million passengers on week days.